on the ground

within three weeks, the final semester of my first year teaching will come to a close. working daily with the faculty, students and staff has given me at least an idea at the inner workings of the educational system in Rambo. in that framework, i have then tried over the last three semester (sometimes successfully, but not always so) to adapt my own experiences into a creative and interesting mode for learning math. in so many ways, however, i find my role as a math teacher hardly the tip of the iceburg.

first, it is best understand a basic background on schools in Burkina villages (see also Kaityln's wonderfully informative blog). thus, i will breakdown the student, school and situations of both.

the students i teach are between the ages of 10 to 18 years old. in the states, we would equate the grade level to between 7th and 9th grade. on average, they are boys. girls make up less than half of a class, but often more than a third. each is required to wear a uniform of khaki (shirt, pants/skirt) of which most are hand-me-downs that have started to wear. they not allowed to wear clothes are too degraded but not a single set in any of room looks partially new. they have all been worn and sewn many times.

their attitudes range from the most nerdishly shy kids to the bully and even the popular sporty types. there are those that wish to participate and those that hide from any glance i push their way. in no way can one take for granted some sort of homogenous idea of their behavior or learning styles. some are creative and quick, others will take an hour to give you a full sentence (though it will often be an enlightening one).

what they do share is a common restlessness in the classroom. you would probably diagnose it as ADD in the States but truly it is a disconnection from their normal life style that becomes distraction. what i mean is simply that, the elementary school that these children come out of is hardly a strict or even fully academic environment. couple this with the idea that students have no exposure to school activities at home and you began to realize that they are as much fishes out of water as i am in that classroom. therefore, one should expect that a day of lectures while sitting on a crowded wooden bench in 100F heat would be difficult to manage.

outside of school, their home situation is of two degrees. for the girls, it is often vast amounts of chores that leave little time for studying. washing, cooking, taking care of smaller children are hard enough chores to complete in a full day (given that there are no machines, electricity or modern conviences to aid them). the boys often allowed much more liberty and free time that they use to spend playing and being children. in this case, you can see that there develops a rather different set of study habits for the boys than the girls. (their ability to stay awake in class can be correlated to gender, as well)

to complicate matters, most children are absent from their parents for most, if not all their day. the responsiblitiy for a child often rests on the sibilings. to illustrate this, a number of the boys that come to my tutoring sessions live in a seperate building away from their parents (almost like dorms). one boy, who lives with his parents, is required to sleep in the garden when is father is home from working. throughout the day, the lack of supervision continues. for example, i have had children fall asleep in my courtyard while studying. the next morning their parents had not noticed their lack of return to the compound nor were concerned about where they had slept and under which conditions. it is assumed that they were fine and all was well. they would be notified in any case of real trouble, so it goes.

parents of students, can also have very different educational backgrounds, though the most common is none at all. for those that did go to school, it is rarely beyond what is provided in Rambo (if even that). you can find many parents that simply dropped out when the classes were too difficult or interferred with "real work" in the fields. there are rarely any examples of parents that use or even simpley need a middle school education.

further, students are able to retake a grade after failing (but only once). thus you will find that the basic knowledge in your class can fluctuate dramatically (especially as one can pass math but fail the grade, thus having to repeat all the courses). it is also possible (and often happens) that students who have failed twice will find another school in the region to retake the courses (as you cannot in the school in which you failed twice). thus, some kids will be on their third time through the material while others have never seen it in their lives.

the school itself is a concrete building with a tin roof. it is basically, four rooms all in a row that can hold 100 students when packed three to bench-desk. my particular school only goes to the 10th grade (equivalent). students wishing to continue must find another school outside the department (as none exist nearby).

the staff of the school consists of professors, a direct of the school, a disciplinarian, a secretary and a treasure. in our case, the director doubles as a professor, as well. most professors will teach more than one class. (being new to Rambo and French, i had only one subject this year. next year may speak differently)

the resources of the school amount to chalk, paper, blackboards, typewriter and enough books for 90 percent of the students. all in all, it is sufficient to teach a class but would be far below the worst of schools in the States. amazingly, chalk and a chalkboard go a very long way with a little creativity.

professors are also outsides, not from the village. their houses are provided and are next to the school (a km from the market). nor are they all from the same village. they often come from all over (including even the Ivory Coast). they are selected based on grades that they receive on stadarized tests.

thus, this is the situation in which i find myself standing, speaking a foreign language, trying to convey math. in that, i find most of my lessons are more about how to get to the idea of the material, than the material itself. often the subject of the course is very simple and straight forward enough to understand. however, in an environment with very little appreciation for academics, school-based-creativity and critical thinking are almost unknown.

for instances, students often learn that schools are for simply repeating information quickly (comprehension is not required). kids are taught this in the free elementary schools where they are first exposed to French (nothing else is spoken there though they do not speak it themselves at that age). often the elementary cirriculum is based on memorizing songs about french, hygiene or math. kids are taught to read in a specific rhythmic patter but are not often asked comprehensive questions about that reading. thus, many can repeat French phrases with no understanding of what is being said (or a very warped understanding due to having to intuitively divine one).

thus, critical thinking in the classroom is rare and difficult to commence. much time is spent on teaching study skills to my students. proving to them that practice is what makes math understandable and easy or that there are applications for these numbers and figures requires most of each class period. it has thus been my goal to continually experiment and discover new ways in which to reach them while demonstarting the daily lessons.

this further extendes beyond the classroom, as my novelty as a white man does not end at the class door. therefore, i have the unique oppurtunity of continually being the professor or, at least, a big brother type mentor to my students. this means i can get to know them personally, adapting ideas to assist them while also getting direct feedback otherwise unatainable. in so many ways, i started out as a math teacher but found it better to be part of a big brother program that happens to use a lot of math.

in future blogs, i will outline specific action i find to be effective (both in and out of the classroom), including more specific events from this past school year.

here are also some random pics for the last month or so around village. the wounded foot was from my 130km bike ride that i did in one day, during the hot season. yep, i was going to the Hard Corps party. no big deal ;) though it did make me buy a pair of sandals made out of car tires. other pics... the kids are my students and neighbors. the mouse was hunted and killed. the white girls are giving a haircut to the surprise of villagers. oh and proof that i can have a ponytail. the woman selling things on trays are a typical stop on the road to Ouaga. and the woman bending over are pounding down clay to make the floor of the courtyard (substitute for concrete). enjoy.